Interaction

Interaction

Today Facebook changed its user interface once again. Why? Who knows, most people are not adjusting to the change without making comments, myself included. The past few days I have been working on social media, trying to gain more followers for the 3 Twitter accounts I manage at this time. I have never really put out so much effort in finding people who will follow you back; when I started using Twitter almost 4 years ago…it was more organic. People followed you when you followed them, now it seems some are convinced there is value in a one-way conversation.

I am looking for interaction on-line. Whether it is my blog I am posting here, words on Facebook or an exchange of ideas on Twitter or professional relationships on Linkedin; I am looking for connection. Maybe I am going about in the wrong way? Some days I come back to a secret hope. It is secret, because it is not “all” the time I feel this way, but I miss the days when you talked in person, on the phone (before voice mail) and there was freedom–not tethered to technology at all times.

Now on the other hand, I know technology is great, because you can take a short cut in communication to people who in the past, may have fallen off your radar screen. You may get lucky and find new people who you have personal or professional commonalities with, possibly establishing new relationships and creating a foundation for lifelong friendships. It speeds everything up, but what is lost in the “speed”? And what about all the conversations on-line, are we all wanting/needing to be heard? The majority of 140 characters on Twitter appears to be a form of drowning each other out and I wonder, is anyone really listening? One of the most beautiful things in life is to listen and be heard; I am not sure if it ever resonates as deeply as when it is off-line, in person, hand in hand or eye to eye.

I know there are pros and cons for everything; technology or covered wagons, outhouses or indoor plumbing, washboards or wash machine, tv or nature. I guess, it depends on the mood. I have a growing weariness with the amount of energy it takes to maintain all of the technology, frankly there are times when a 12 mile hike up in the local mountains is less strenuous.

Aside from technology, I do spend a good amount of time offline, away from the drone of the computer or my phone, sometimes I like to leave it all at home and go about my day. It is a form of freedom from the “wired” handcuffs I wear most of the time, willingly.

I do love to write. I have been writing different genres for years. I look forward to putting the blog together. I am hoping it stays interesting and relevant to those who read it regularly. I welcome others to submit stories for me to post–anything that is applicable to being human falls under the topics I like to cover.

I plan to release my book when it is complete the old-fashioned way (published) and hope to meet people face to face to talk about it. Thankfully (as I said, my “secret” wish is not always prudent) there will also be an online aspect to the promotion of the book, which I hope will allow me to engage with people in a “real” way.

Please feel free to comment on my posts, share with me links and ideas to things that interest you. I enjoy interacting, connecting with people and learning what makes others tick. Please email me at Tracy@13degreez.com

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